Post navigation

Extending Your Smartphone's Battery Life

Perhaps you and your boss are on a business trip together and he or she asks you to look up some details to finalize a meeting location. Or maybe you’re about to click “send” on a really important e-mail you’ve been carefully composing. Then again, you could just be in the middle of a particularly good part of that new e-book or podcast you just finished downloading. You think you’re in the clear, but just then you realize two things at once: your phone is out of battery and your charger is nowhere to be found!

It’s a chronic problem with small devices that have high tech abilities. Being able to do so much from the palm of your hand comes with a price: a reduced battery life for your phone.

Next time you leave the house with your smartphone by your side, make sure you are putting some of these practices in place in order to extend your battery life and get the most out of your time with your mobile device.

Turn Off Applications When You’re Not Using Them
This one seems like a no-brainer, but when you’re dividing your attention amongst different daily tasks, it can be an easy one to forget. Once you’re done using an app on your phone, make sure you completely exit it, otherwise, it’ll continue to leech life from your battery. Web browsers and applications like Facebook can be particularly taxing on your phone, so if your aim is to conserve energy, use them sparingly.Turn Off Wifi and GPS PeriodicallyYour phone may be expending precious battery life by connecting to wireless networks and using GPS to detect your location–even when you don’t need to be doing either of those things! Go to your phone’s settings to ensure that your phone isn’t activating both of these features by default. There are applications like Google Maps that won’t work without GPS, but until you need to look up directions, why bother having it on?

Be Selective About Media ConsumptionSmartphones are a great way to catch up on your favorite YouTube videos, but be careful about streaming too many too often. We’ve all fallen down the YouTube rabbit hole more times than we’d like to admit, but make sure that when you do, you’re not lowering your battery’s life to critical levels.

Turn Off Your Phone at Night
This is a luxury we can’t all afford, since lifestyle or professional demands may force us to keep our smartphones on around the clock. But if you have the ability, shut your phone off every night. It needs a good night’s sleep, too! This will extend your battery’s life in the long run. Make sure you don’t leave your phone charging all the way through the night either. It’s better to disconnect your phone right after it’s done charging. Once you’re battery is at full capacity, there’s no need to keep it connected to an outlet.There you have it: four easy tips you can start putting into place today to make sure your phone doesn’t surprise you with a power outage when you need it the most! Do you know where your phone ranks when it comes to battery life? What are some other ways you extend battery life for your smartphone?